#this poem is about fanfic lmao

[icaruspendragon]

here’s a little poem not about sadness or grief as a treat

[trickstersaint]

hey hi hello! first of all i'd like to say i took your patron saint uquiz and it. Changed my life unironically it's so good. i follow you now because every line in that quiz was a gut punch and i loved it. top tier hurt honestly

my question is this - i am a fanauthor. on the side i also write my own original fiction but i specialize in fanfic. Am I allowed to use your poetry for a reference folder? I wouldn't use your poetry in a fic without explicit permission and without linking back here of course, and I'd never use it for commercial work outside of maybe taking inspiration without copying, but I wanna have a ref folder of Things That Made Me Feel Things about a character. It's not planned to be public as of yet, it's just supposed to be a bunch of screenshots in my drafts, but I'd like to maybe one day make it public once the fic was complete. (I already have your blog linked in my drafts actually, so if it goes public I'm not gonna forget.) I just want to make sure you're comfortable with me using your poetry for fanfic of all things

It's cool if not and have a great day! I still think your poetry is great and evocative and all

hi, anon! you're all good, i prommy. so glad you like the quiz + the poetry, and i would always prefer people come and ask questions if they're uncertain! no trouble at all.

my general stance is that as long as it's clearly credited, i am totally cool with my work being used in personal projects. like you said, i've got a tag for the things that people make! i love to see what people create. if it's for a noncommercial creative project then i would say there's no need to ask beforehand (unless it would make you more comfortable to ask, in which case go ahead and i'll almost certainly say yes <3). my only thing is that if you post it, please tag me in it/send it to me so that i can reblog it here for people to see!

if there are any questions about using my work that anyone has, feel free to ask. i don't think i've got anything particular going on outside of common practice! same way you'd treat, like, a richard siken poem or smth: you wanna credit it so that people can find the source material, and make sure you're not using it for profit unless you have an understanding with that author. i trust you all to be decent about it <3 kiss kiss go out and make your cool little things so that i can be delighted and amazed with them

[juniperhillpatient]

I wrote this fic for @hello-nichya-here because of our Wizards of Waverly Place re-watch. It's set directly after the episode "Alex in the Middle." Kelbo catches on that there's more to Alex's plans then a simple prank & does his best to help his niece & nephew along (in his own chaotic way). Enjoy!

“So, how’d the prank go with your brother?”

“Huh?” Alex asked, distracted. “What prank?”

In Alex’s defense, it was hard to focus on the conversation when there was horde of zombies chasing them. Uncle Kelbo had taken her to Fear Land, which was a wizard world haunted attraction with real ghosts, goblins, ghouls and zombies. They had just escaped the room with the shrieking banshee, who was very annoying and whiney and also loud. Now they were running across a field while an army of the undead moaned and followed them with outstretched arms, hungry for their flesh.

Alex slowed down and tilted her head as she realized something. “Hey, they’re all just walking. We don’t have to run.”

“Yeah, but it’s more fun if we run,” Kelbo said, doubling over and panting.

Alex groaned, clutching a stitch in her side. “You and I have very different ideas of fun, apparently.”

They hurried past the exit gate where an attendance with short dark hair and a rather vacant expression was waiting. She spoke in a tired, bored monotone voice. “Thank you for coming to Fear Land. Please remember that you signed a waver and Fear Land cannot be held legally responsible for any bodily or mental harm that you might have befallen while in the attraction.”

“I don’t remember signing a waiver,” Alex said, as she followed Kelbo over to a food stand. There were a lot of stands selling fried food and soda and a few rides including a Ferris wheel that levitated in the air with no support beams. Wizards as well as some vampires, werewolves, centaurs, elves and other wizard world folks were wandering around, chatting.

“Yeah,” Kelbo said. “That’s ‘cause I signed for you. Technically, you have to be eighteen to get into Fear Land, and they make you sign the contract in your blood on a charmed piece of paper that can tell your age by your blood. So, I may have helped you fib a little. Don’t tell your parents.”

Alex grinned. “You are so cool.”

A few minutes later, they were sitting at a picnic table, chowing down on fried unicorn horns. Alex was enjoying the evening. She could acknowledge that Uncle Kelbo was not the greatest magic teacher. She needed her dad to help slow her down and make her think, as much as she hated to admit it. Also, obviously, knowing that Dad won the wizard competition changed everything. He was the superior wizard after all, and thus exactly who she needed as a teacher. She still loved spending time with Uncle Kelbo in the wizard world. He treated her like an adult, not a kid, and let her be herself.

“So, what’s next?” Kelbo asked.

“Hm?” Alex said, swallowing a bite of her fried unicorn horn. “I didn’t know we were doing anything else tonight. Ooh, while we’re faking my age, will you take me to that cool wizard dance club, Zero Gravity? I heard everything floats in there!”

“No,” Kelbo said. Then he considered. “Well, maybe. Dancing with no gravity does sound pretty awesome.” Then his expression hardened. “No! Stop trying to distract me with awesome sounding clubs. Listen, I meant what’s next with the prank on your brother. You sent him all those love notes. Now what? Are you going to stink bomb his locker and put a note saying it’s from the secret admirer? Convince him it’s from some really hot girl he likes and then humiliate him by doing a spell to make him talk in a really deep voice like a cave man? Ooh! Or you could give him a really high voice like a little girl!”

Alex laughed. “Oh, that? Well, Justin kinda found out the notes were from me. You should’ve seen his face when he confronted me about it. He got so red, and his nose did that cute thing where it scrunches up and his eyes got all big.” She giggled, remembering, and spoke in an imitation of Justin. “Alex, I know it was you putting those notes in my locker! It wasn’t funny. I hid in a trash can!”

“Riiight,” Kelbo said. For some reason, he looked skeptical. “So, you just, put flirty notes in your brother’s locker everyday for a week and then it never really led to anything, and he just got kinda mad and now it’s forgotten?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Alex said with a smile and a shrug. “So, anyway, about Zero Gravity, I hear-”

“I mean, I always noticed you guys were close,” Kelbo interrupted.

Alex snorted. “Ew? Close? Me and Justin. Please. He’s close with his science teacher.”

“Alex,” Kelbo said with an exasperated sigh. “Who do you talk to basically every night before you go to bed?”

“Well, obviously Justin, but-”

“Who can make you laugh even if you’re having a terrible day.”

“Sometimes Max, but usually not intentionally,” Alex said. Kelbo gave her a pointed look, and she rolled her eyes. “Fine, Justin can usually cheer me up if I’m upset, but-”

“And who do you go to anytime you’re in real trouble, the kind you don’t know how to get out of?”

“I mean, Justin, but-”

“Not even your parents!” Kelbo said. “Kid, you’re in denial.”

“In denial of what?” Alex asked. “Fine, I’ll admit it, Justin is a pretty great big brother. What does that have to do with anything?”

“Look, kid, I got you another present,” Kelbo said. He waved his wand, and a wrapped box appeared on the picnic table.

“Ooh, for me?” Alex asked. She clapped her hands. “Yay!” She hurried to open the box, and then frowned. Inside was a plastic mood ring. It was just like many she had purchased for cheap at the mall before. They tended to turn her fingers green. Alex tried to hide her disappointment. Unfortunately, she had never been very good at masking her feelings. “Oh, wow,” she said. “A mood ring…. Neat.”

Kelbo chuckled. “This is a special mood ring, okay? Give it to Justin. It’s a great uh,” he cleared his throat dramatically. The reason behind the fanfare was a mystery to Alex. “Prank.” He cleared his throat again. Then he winked.

Alex narrowed her eyes. “Why’d you say it like that? And why’d you wink?”

“I’m not winking,” Kelbo said, winking again.

“Okay then…” Alex said, giving him a discerning look. He was grinning, and not giving much away with his expression. After a moment, she got bored of trying to figure him out and gave up. “Well, whatever. I always like pranking Justin, so I’m in.”

“It definitely does not involve the Banana Song by Harry Belafonte,” Kelbo said.

Alex laughed. “Okayyy. Sure, Uncle Kelbo. Whatever you say.”

* * “I’m glad you had fun with Uncle Kelbo,” Justin said. He glared. “Be nice if he took me to some of these places.”

“Yeah, or me!” Max said.

Alex rolled her eyes. “Max, the last time Uncle Kelbo took you to a wizard world amusement park you had nightmares for a week. And not even because of anything scary.”

“I didn’t like the looks of that fairy princess, okay?” Max said. “Too pink.” He shuddered. “And her breath smelled like perfume. It was creepy.”

“And Justin, are you seriously telling me you would be willing to lie about your age on a blood contract?” Alex continued. “Uncle Kelbo took me because he knew I could handle it.”

“You lied about your age on a blood contract?” Justin asked, his eyes bugging.

“See?” Alex said. “This is why you don’t get invited to these things.”

“Kids, it’s getting time to get ready for bed,” Theresa said, walking out from behind the counter in the kitchen where she had been cleaning some dishes. “I’m just going to pretend I didn’t overhear anything about any blood contracts because honestly, I’m tired and I don’t have the patience for any weird wizard drama right now.”

Alex made a face. She had kind of forgotten Mom was back there, honestly. “Probably for the best.”

“Alright, the restaurant is all shut down,” Jerry said, entering the apartment. “What are you kids still doing up? Alex, I take it everything went well with your uncle?”

“Yep,” Alex said brightly. She could sense Justin itching to blurt out about the blood contract, and hurried to say something that would distract him. “Uncle Kelbo was talking about taking Justin with us to Fear Land next.”

“You went to Fear Land?” Jerry asked. “I remember he and I going there when we were teenagers. Back then it was eighteen and up. Guess it’s changed. We had to find some older wizards to help us fake sign these waivers in blood because we weren’t old enough.” He chuckled. “Man, those were some fun times. We used to get into so many crazy situations. There was this one time with a succubus that-” he stopped, seeing Theresa’s face, and cleared his throat. “That was very bad.” Then he frowned. “Wait a minute. Alex, please tell me that my brother did not sneak you into a haunted attraction illegally by faking a blood contract?”

“Okay,” Alex said. “Uncle Kelbo definitely did not do any of that stuff you just said.”

Jerry sighed and rubbed his forehead. “We are going to have a serious conversation about what you get up to with your uncle. For now, get ready for bed.”

A while later, Alex couldn’t sleep. She was lying in bed in her pajamas, tossing and turning. She wasn’t too freaked out by the Fear Land attractions. Sure, the guy carrying his own severed head was a little icky. But it was the conversation with Kelbo that was bugging her. She hadn’t found an opportunity to give Justin the ring yet, and she wasn’t totally sure she even wanted to. Kelbo was just acting so weird about the whole thing, like there was a joke Alex wasn’t in on. She liked to be the one scheming and pulling pranks, not having pranks pulled on her.

After a while, Alex snuck downstairs to get a glass of water. Also, to see if Justin was still up. She had heard him in he hallway walking around not too long ago, and she never heard him come back upstairs. She had the mood ring from Kelbo in her pocket just in case she decided to give it to him after all.

Alex hesitated on the stairs. Justin was sitting on the sofa under a throw blanket, watching a DVR recording of the channel five news. Alex recognized the news anchor’s perky expression and thick brunette hair, and her stupid fake breasts right away. It was the one Justin was obsessed with. He had cutouts of her in his room. Alex had once stolen one to use for her fake ID when she tried to sneak into Night of the Halloween Sorority Party Disaster Two.

Justin made a soft sound that made something deep in Alex’s core shift. His hand was moving under the blanket. Oh, gross. Alex figured out a beat too late what was happening. She was frozen though, staring. She knew she should hurry back upstairs, but then she would get caught. She was just standing there, halfway down the stairs, unable to tear her eyes away from the back of Justin’s head. The annoying news anchor was going on about the weather. Justin serious got off to THAT? Alex was affronted with the ridiculousness of that. She could be way hotter than some girl talking about the weather without even trying. Not that she wanted Justin to get off to her instead. It was just the principal of the thing.

Alex stayed there watching for a long time. She kept wanting to bolt upstairs, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She told herself it was because the stairs would creak, and Justin would hear her. After a while, Justin sighed and slumped further into the pillows. Alex decided that now it would be safe to get her glass of water. She just had to pretend she was only just now coming down the stairs. She took several loud steps.

Justin sat bolt upright and spun around. “ALEX! What are you doing?”

“Getting a glass of water,” Alex said, walking to the kitchen. “What are you doing?” She looked at the TV, pretending to just now notice it as she got a glass of water. “Jerking off to the news anchor?” “What?” Justin said. His face was bright red. “No.”

Alex laughed. She couldn’t help herself. The way Justin was holding the throw blanket up to his chin like some kind of scandalized maiden was just too good. “Calm down, I’m just teasing,” she said. “I couldn’t sleep. Maybe that Fear Land place got to me more than I’d like to admit.”

“Well, I was getting ready to go up, but I could watch an episode of some dumb sit com with you, if you want,” Justin said.

“Sure,” Alex said, plopping down on the sofa beside him. She yawned and leaned back. “Give me some of that blanket.”

“Get your own.”

“No, the closet where Mom keeps the throw blankets is all the way upstairs,” Alex whined. “C’mon, share.”

“You’re so annoying,” Justin said, but he allowed her to pull some of the blanket over herself as she got comfy.

A few minutes later, Justin’s arm was on the back of the sofa, behind Alex’s head. They both had their feet up, sharing the coffee table as a footrest, and the throw blanket was pulled over them both. Some show about a comically dysfunctional family played over a laugh track was on TV. Alex found herself drifting off. Something about being in Justin’s presence and the sound of the TV helped her relax.

Alex had just faded away into comfy oblivion when Justin shifted and woke her up. She had drifted to sleep with her head resting against his shoulder. She yawned, to sleepy to sit up. “Mm, guess I should go up to bed.”

When Justin spoke, his voice was soft, and tired, but also there was something different about it than earlier. Something almost hesitant, or maybe hopeful. “This is ok.”

Alex sat up, laughing. “You want to explain to Mom and Dad why we fell asleep cuddling on the sofa?”

Justin frowned. “What? It’s not like we’re doing anything wrong. We both just couldn’t sleep. I don’t think they’d be too mad.”

Obviously, he was right. But something about the idea of waking up here made Alex nervous. She imagined she would see that look in her eyes that Mom sometimes got, like she was a little worried for some reason, or the rare quietness from Dad that sometimes happened, like when Alex jokingly tried to sit in Justin’s lap last family movie night and Dad said he wanted to sit by Alex and shut down any further jokes like that for the evening.

“Hey, I have a present for you,” Alex said. She dug in her pocket and got out the ring. “It’s from Uncle Kelbo. He wanted me to give it to you. I almost forgot.”

By now, the sit com was over and channel five was back on. Justin must’ve changed it while Alex was asleep. The news anchor he liked so much was talking about possible rain. Justin yawned and stretched. Alex definitely did not find the way his face scrunched up after a sleepy yawn adorable. That was just something dumb she wrote in one of those stupid prank letters to make fun of him.

“A present from Kelbo?” Justin asked. “Nice, those are always great.”

“Here, hold out your hand,” Alex said. Justin did so, and she slid the ring over his pointer finger.

Immediately, Justin’s mouth opened, and a sound emitted from it that was not at all like his voice. It was a very familiar sound though. Alex stared in utter amusement. Where was that music coming from? This was TOO good.

‘Day-o, day-o Daylight come, and we want go home Day, is a day, is a day, is a day, is a day, is a day-o Daylight come, and we want go home Work all night on a drink of rum Daylight come, and we want go home…’

Justin got up and began to do a dance to go along with the music. This was exactly like that famous scene in the movie Beetlejuice, except that Justin was alone in his dancing. Alex was left sitting on the sofa, losing it laughing. This was the best prank Kelbo had ever come up with and that was including the time he helped Alex and Max make Justin’s action figures all come to life and make fun of him. “Alex, I don’t know what’s happening!” Justin yelled. He was still dancing. Then, he was back to singing, except not in his own voice, but with the vocals and backup music of Harry Belafonte.

‘Stack banana 'til the morning come (Daylight come and we want go home) Come Mister tally man, tally me banana (Daylight come and we want go home) Come Mister tally man, tally me banana (Daylight come and we want go home) Lift six-foot, seven-foot, eight-foot bunch (Daylight come and we want go home) Six-foot, seven-foot, eight-foot bunch Daylight come, and we want go home!’

There was never any chance of the family sleeping through all this racket. Within minutes, Jerry and Theresa were on the stairs, both rubbing their eyes and looking exhausted. Max was right behind them. He appeared to be enamored.

“Aw, sick,” Max said. “Justin, you never told me you could sing and dance like that. You gotta teach me for the talent show!”

Alex was wheezing with laughter. Justin was staring at her with desperate horror in his eyes, and she decided to at last take pity on him. “Oh my god. “Okay, okay,” she said, still chuckling. “Take the ring off.”

Justin ripped the ring off his finger, and immediately had free reign of his body. He did a whole-body shudder. Alex was doubled over, tears streaming down her face from laughing. She couldn’t breathe. This was just too good. Justin looked furious and embarrassed and that meant she had enjoyed a successful evening.

“Young lady, we are going to have a serious talk about pranking your brother in the morning,” Jerry said, glaring. “It’s the middle of the night. You have school tomorrow! You know what? You are grounded. No going to the mall with Harper tomorrow.”

“But Daddy, I didn’t know what the ring would do,” Alex whined. “Uncle Kelbo gave it to me and told me to give it to Justin.”

“Okay, fine,” Jerry snapped. “No hanging out with my brother until I have a serious talk with him.”

“But, Dad-” Alex started.

“NO BUTS,” Jerry said.

Theresa frowned. “Jerry, it was just an innocent kid’s prank. Don’t you think you’re being a little harsh?”

“He took her to an eighteen plus amusement park,” Jerry said. “Now he’s helping her prank her brother like she needs any help in that department? He’s encouraging her to misuse magic, and I’m done with it.”

Alex was furious. She slammed the door to her bedroom and sat on her bed fuming for several minutes. This was so unfair. Maybe her dad won the wizard competition but that didn’t mean he understood magic so much better than Kelbo. Jerry and Justin both were always going on and on about the rules and following them to a T. At least Kelbo knew how to have fun.

A thought occurred to Alex, not for the first time, and she did her best to push it away. If she won the competition, she’d be just like Kelbo. Always using magic for her own gain whenever she wanted. But Justin was a lot more like their dad, who actually won. What if she didn’t always get to keep her powers?

This thought was always there, in the back of Alex’s mind, tainting her every interaction with Justin with the tension and jealousy of that insecurity. It didn’t so much get to her with Max, because he was so behind in the competition. On the outside, Alex never let these concerns show. She would rather die than let Justin know she was worried he would win and leave her in the dust. But it did get to her sometimes.

Anyway, right now Alex’s concern was about being cut off from her uncle. She grabbed her wand and dialed. “Beep, boop, beep, boop, beep.”

A minute later, Kelbo picked up. “Hey, Alex. I just got off the phone with your dad. It looks like you and I aren’t going to be able to hang out for a while. But listen, your dad will come around. We just need to give him some space and – oh, who am I kidding? I’ll sneak you out whenever you want.”

Alex laughed in relief. “Good to know. I was worried I would be totally cut off from you.”

“Never, kid,” Uncle Kelbo said.

“Hey, I did the prank on Justin,” Alex said. “Why did you act all mysterious anyway? All it did was make him sing that Banana Boat and dance. It was hilarious.”

“Listen, you gotta get Justin to wear that ring to school tomorrow,” Kelbo said. “I’m trying to prove a point here, and I need you to figure out what triggers the ring if we’re ever going to get there.”

“Huh?” Alex said. “Why are you acting all mysterious again?”

“Just get him to wear the ring to school.”

“Well, he’s never gonna do that,” Alex said. “He probably just threw it away.”

“No, no, no, that thing was so expensive,” Kelbo groaned. “I was saving it for a really good opportunity. Look, who will Justin listen to no matter what?”

Alex felt a sneaky idea form in her mind, and she grinned. “You know what? You just gave me a great idea.”

“It’s what I do best,” Kelbo said. “Now, call me tomorrow with an update.”

* *

“I’m sorry you can’t go, Alex, but it’s your own fault,” Harper said. “If you would just stop pulling pranks on Justin, maybe you wouldn’t be grounded so often.”

“Ugh, you are not being a very supportive best friend right now, Harper,” Alex grumbled. She was standing behind the counter at the substation, and Harper was sitting on a stool facing her.

“Look, I’ll try to get you that cute sweater you liked so much,” Harper said. “How’s that?”

Alex perked up and smiled. “Like maybe you’re a much better friend than I thought.”

The bell dinged as the door to the substation opened. Justin entered, whistling as he walked. Alex hadn’t seen him much at school. They passed each other in the hall, but that was it. So, she had no idea if her plan had worked.

This morning, there was a very special news report from the channel five anchor about how mood rings were SUPER popular right now and all the cute guys were wearing them. It only broadcast to one household in New York, but Justin didn’t have to know that. Thanks to the ‘manipulate screens’ spell from last week’s wizard lesson, Alex was able to make it look like the news lady was saying whatever she wanted her to say. This was a good trick, and Alex was going to have to remember it for future use.

“Oh, there’s Justin,” Harper said. She looked down at her dress, which was covered in plastic assortments of fruits. “How do I look?”

“Um….” Alex said, unsure how to respond to that.

“Hey Alex, hey, Harper,” Justin said as he approached.

Harper immediately screamed and dove under a nearby table. Since this was a normal reaction for her, Justin just shrugged, and walked behind the counter, getting himself a soda. He was still whistling a jaunty tune.

“Hey, Justin,” Alex said. “How was school?”

“Good,” Justin said. “I passed my algebra exam with flying colors, and-” he stopped and gave Alex a suspicious look. “You don’t care how my day at school was, do you?”

Alex scoffed. “What? I so care. I always ask you how your day was.”

“Especially when you have some scheme cooking,” Justin said, narrowing his eyes. “What did you do?”

“Nothing!” Alex said. “Um, out of curiosity, did you wear that mood ring?”

“Yeah, I did,” Justin said. “The news lady on channel five said – hey!” He glared. “You tricked me!”

“Well, it obviously didn’t do any good,” Alex said with a disappointed sigh. “I guess nothing happened.”

“No, it didn’t,” Justin said. “And you are so annoying for trying to prank me again! You know, Alex, sometimes it’s like your life revolves around tormenting me.”

Alex grinned. “And isn’t that just such a compliment?”

Justin glared. “You are the worst. I swear- DAY-OU!”

The music was back. Alex burst into laughter. Luckily for her, no one else except Harper was in the substation. Harper got out from under the table, looking very confused. Alex supposed that she should be trying to figure out a way to explain this to Harper. Right now, though, she was unable to do anything but crack up. With any luck, Justin would get nervous and do the explaining for her. The bell dinged and the substation door opened. A man entered. His eyes went wide, and he stared at Justin, who was now dancing to the music.

‘Daylight come and we want go home Day, is a day, is a day, is a day, is a day, is a day-o Daylight come, and we want go home!’

The potential customer backed away outside and let the door shut again. Alex saw him take off running down the street. Harper was pointing at Justin with a shaky hand. Her jaw was hanging open and she looked terrified. Alex was aware that she was possibly in trouble. However, all she could do was laugh because the sight of Justin singing and dancing was just too good.

Justin ripped the ring off his finger. “ALEX I’m going to KILL-” Justin stopped mid-sentence. He looked at Harper and forced himself to be composed. Oh, good. He was going to weasel out of this so Alex didn’t have to. God, Alex loved him. “I am going to KILL at the talent show,” Justin said. He forced a huge grin. “Isn’t that such a cool talent that I’ve developed all by myself with no magic, Harper?”

“Uh,” Harper said. “Yep.” She was back to her usual awkward, blushing self around Justin, looking shy and giggly. “Wow. You really learned how to make music come out of your mouth for the talent competition? You’re so talented.”

“Yep,” Justin said. “That’s right. Okay, now, I have to practice some more. So, goodbye.”

“But, the substation just opened for dinner. It’s only four o’clock.”

“Wow! How the time flies!” Justin said, ushering Harper out the door. “Great talking to you. See ya tomorrow.”

Alex was back to giggling. Justin turned around and glared at her, and she tried to look serious. “Justin, I’m really sorry.” She couldn’t maintain her composure and started laughing again. “But that was too good. Maybe you really should audition for the talent competition!”

A while later, Alex was lying on the sofa flipping through a teen magazine. She had just done a quiz on whether she was compatible with her crush for fun. She didn’t have a crush right now, because Riley was going out with Gigi, and she was grossed out by that. So, she answered all the questions inserting Justin as the hypothetical other person in each scenario. The answer she got was that she and her crush were sure to have a rocky and possibly doomed but very fun and exciting romance and that it was definitely worth giving it a shot even if there would be heartache and speedbumps along the way. Huh. Interesting. Alex supposed that did describe her and Justin’s dynamic pretty well. Minus the romance, obviously.

Alex jumped in alarm when she was joined by someone else in the room without warning. Uncle Kelbo had just flashed into the room with magic. He was coughing and waving smoke away as he got reacclimated from teleporting through space and town.

Alex sat up and tossed her magazine to the side. “Uncle Kelbo, what are you doing here?”

“I just got done talking to your dad,” Kelbo said. “Your mom calmed him down and we’re allowed to hang out again as long as I stop helping you prank your brother.”

“Great,” Alex said, beaming. She had known her dad would come around eventually, but it was relief that it happened so fast. Then she hesitated. “Wait, you’re not really going to stop helping me prank Justin, right?”

“Of course not,” Kelbo said, waving a dismissive hand. “Now, listen. I want to know everything about what happened today.”

Alex grinned. “Justin serenaded me and Harper with the Banana Boat song after school. It was great.”

“Yeah,” Kelbo said. “Now I think it’s time you knew what the ring really does. It casts a spell on the wearer so that whoever has it on sings the Banana Boat song whenever they experience strong romantic feelings.”

Alex stared at Kelbo. “Wait….”

“Yeah, take that in,” Kelbo said. “It’s a lot, I know. But now that I know it’s reciprocated, I can help you-”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Alex interrupted.

“Oh, okay, good,” Kelbo said, blinking in surprise. “I thought this was going to take way more convincing.”

“Wait, only the first time makes sense,” Alex said. “Justin was watching that channel five news anchor lady he like so much on TV.”

“Not her,” Kelbo groaned, smacking his forehead. “Alex, he was obviously experiencing feelings for-”

“HARPER?” Alex interrupted, aghast. She wasn’t sure why the idea upset her so much. After all, Harper had been into Justin forever. Shouldn’t Alex be happy for her as her best friend? “I can’t believe Justin has a crush on Harper,” she said. “Well, I guess now it’s up to me to get them together.”

* *

“Are you sure I can trust you about this?” Justin asked.

“For the last time, I’m telling you the truth,” Alex said. “I even let you do a truth spell on me to prove it.”

“That’s true,” Justin said. “But it’s just so strange. I never knew I had feelings for Harper.”

“Well, maybe you were burying them deep down,” Alex said.

“I guess,” Justin said, though he still looked uncertain. “And you really think the yogurt shop is a good place for us to go on a date? I’m leaving if she wears her yogurt themed outfit. Last time she followed me around in that thing for a day, I couldn’t get the smell of sour yogurt out of my nostrils for a week.”

Alex made a face. “Fair point. I’ll call her and make sure she doesn’t wear that.”

They were in the sub-car, after school. Alex was helping Justin get ready for the big date with Harper. No one else was in the sub-car. There were a few customers at tables in the substation. Luckily, Alex had put the serving wench charm on Max, so he was doing a great job. She would’ve felt a little bad, but he was making a killing in tips, so she figured he’d be alright.

“Alright,” Alex said, sitting at the table. “So, like we agreed, let’s practice.”

“I don’t know about this, Alex,” Justin said. “I mean, practicing for a date with Harper? She’s probably going to throw out some random fun facts about things she discovered while secretly watching me sleep or something.”

“Stop,” Alex said, getting serious. “Justin, I know she’s kind of weird, but she’s my best friend and if you hurt her I’ll have to hurt you. Look, I want you and Harper both to be happy. So please, just take this seriously.”

“Alright, alright,” Justin said. He sat down at the table and folded his hands in front of him. “Hi, Harper. Welcome to our date.”

Alex snorted. “Welcome to our date? What is this, a talk show? Just act natural. Why aren’t you wearing the ring?”

“Act natural?” Jutin repeated. “I don’t know how to act natural around Harper. I’m used to her screaming and running away when she sees me. Anyway, I’m pretty sure singing the Banana Boat song on our date isn’t considered natural.”

“Okay, true,” Alex said, laughing. “But it would be pretty funny.”

“Now I’m the one who needs to take this seriously?” Justin asked, snorting.

“Okay, okay,” Alex said. She cleared her throat and spoke in an imitation of Harper. “Hi, Justin.” She giggled and twirled her hair. “Thanks for coming.”

“You’re welcome,” Justin said. “I mean, uh, why don’t I come sit by you?”

A moment later, Justin was on the bench beside Alex in the sub-car. He put an arm around her, and sat very close, with his face near hers. “You look really pretty.”

Alex felt butterflies in her belly dance, and her cheeks were suddenly very warm. “Okay,” she said with a soft laugh. “Since when are you Mr. Charisma?”

“I can be romantic when I want to be,” Justin said. “You just never see that side of me.”

“I wonder why not,” Alex said, shooting him a mischievous smirk.

“I think it’s obvious why not,” Justin said, laughing.

Suddenly, they were joined by Kelbo and a lot of smoke. He waved his hand in front of his face, coughing up a storm. Alex and Justin both did the same.

“Uncle Kelbo, what are you doing here?” Justin asked.

“Okay, fine,” Kelbo said. “I did a spell so I could spy on you two after I found out Alex was trying to set you up with Harper.”

“What?” Alex said. “Why?”

“Because!” Kelbo said. “You’re both clearly never going to figure this out without my help. Look, Justin, just put on the ring right now.”

Justin frowned and dug in his jeans pocket. He put on the ring. Alex felt her jaw drop. No way. The gears in her brain whirred as she tried to process what exactly was happening and what it meant. It’s not like she hadn’t had inklings before. But she could never articulate it. Even now, she was afraid to put it into words in her own brain, what it meant that the ring was activated right now.

‘Day-o, day-o Daylight come, and we want go home Day, is a day, is a day, is a day, is a day, is a day-o Daylight come, and we want go home Work all night on a drink of rum Daylight come, and we want go home…’

Justin ripped the ring off his finger and threw it on the ground. His expression was intense, and horrified. Alex found herself tense. Every muscle in her body was like a live wire. She was afraid to breathe. Justin was still seated on the bench, very close to her.

“I can’t believe it,” Justin said.

“I know,” Alex said, surprised at how steady her voice came out. She had always been good at acting like she was okay even when she wasn’t. She met Justin’s eyes, her heart pounding. “I can’t either.”

“I have feelings for Uncle Kelbo?” Justin said.

Alex and Uncle Kelbo both groaned. Alex smacked Justin on the shoulder. “You do not have feelings for Uncle Kelbo, you big dummy!”

Justin laughed, looking a bit breathless and very relieved. “Okay, your reaction right now proves that you’re not exactly upset about – um – what this means.”

“And, with that, I’m gonna leave you two with these,” Kelbo said. He set two tickets on the table. “These will get you into Zero Gravity, the wizard world club. I heard there’s a romantic ballad tonight and a floating dance for all the couples out there. Anyway, I’m gonna go. And if either of you ever tell your parents I was involved with helping you figure this out, I’ll turn you both into worms.”

With that, Kelbo was gone in a puff of smoke. Alex was alone with Justin in the sub-car. She was surprised to hear Justin mutter a spell as he coughed away the smoke. He was usually so careful with magic and refused to do anything without Dad’s permission. Suddenly though, every window in the sub-car was blocked by black curtains.

“You just did a spell,” Alex said, staring at Justin with wide eyes. “A spell outside the lair. Without supervision.”

“I was actually, uh, thinking maybe we could use a minute without supervision,” Justin said. He looked very nervous. “Are you – are we okay? Seriously.”

“You know, Justin, I’ve never been very good with talking about these things,” Alex said. “So, let me answer that with action.”

Then she was kissing him. Alex had thought about this, in her deepest, darkest, most private fantasies. She had pictured what it would be like, but never admitted to herself what she was doing. She always waved it off as a random, errant dirty thought that meant nothing. Now Justin’s lips were pressed against hers, and his hands were tangled in her hair, and it was better than she could’ve ever imagined. This was worth every conflict and moment of heartache and possible disaster that was surely awaiting them if they pursued it. There was no doubt in Alex’s mind about that.

When they parted for air, Justin’s hand was on her cheek. He looked breathless and anxious and excited. “Okay, good answer.”

“We’re gonna have to thank Uncle Kelbo later for helping me prank you,” Alex said, grinning. “This turned out to be a really good prank.”

[burninlovebutler]

I've got your dimples On my mind

and I keep thinking Of your spine,

How it bends Like the corners of my mind

And in your bright blue eyes I find,

Something more That isn't mine

[-mine]

[nagaytoe]

THE KID AT THE BACK

-theories

Did i sit down and analyze this game for 3 hours straight because I'm hyperfixated on it? Yes, yes i did.

This isnt proof-read and long as hell so buckle up for a joyride, y'all (by the way, there's another TKATB fanfic in the works as we speak and also some fanart, though I'm not sure wether to post it or not... well, we'll see!)

Some of these might not seem all too thought through (??) Since i was kind of grasping at straws here (and it was like 2 a.m. lmao), so if y'all have questions/need me to elaborate or have theories of your own feel free to share!

(There's some inspiration here from other people in the Fandom, most of them from the community section on itch.io which isnt available any more)

Sol knows the player longer than we think

My theory ->

-Fantasia stated that one of her 3 biggest inspirations was the game AMNESIA

-In amnesia the mc loses her memory in an accident. One of the love interests is her childhood friend and also the only yandere in the game (at least from what i could find out)

-She already drew Sol with Forget-me-nots and in the valentines day special the boquet sol gave us also contained Forget-me-nots

-In the book (this gallery thing with all the cutscene images) on the top of sols page is written 'Remember Me' which implies we forgot about him

-Annabel Lee Poem:

+The poem contains the line 'I was a child, she was a child' which furthermore implies that Sol and MC knew each other as kids

+Except for the last two paragraphs the poem is written in past tense, which could be talking about sols POV with us

Perhaps MC had an accident, as mentioned above, and MCs father (highborn kinsmen) tore MC away from Sol to the countryside

+The poem mentions angels killing annabel lee which could also mean something like this: MC doesnt die but, however, gets amnesia. That way, the MC sol knows and loves is dead because MC no longer exists the way MC did before (also the fact that she forgot him)

Some people theorize MCs farm is near the sea and that is the reason why sol hates the sea (i believe the city is near the sea and that's where MC 'died' (maybe MC almost drowned and got Amnesia that way?(apparently its possible for people who almost drowned to get amnesia)))

+"The speaker loves annabel lee to the point of death and even after death" (MCs view how to interpret the poem) (-> Sol loves MC to 'death' (the day they got amnesia) and even after 'death' (after MC got amnesia and 'died' in a sense, as a person))

-sol says he thinks death is beautiful, i didn't really know what to make of that, the only conclusion i came to would be: If MC actually did drown and lose their memories due to that, sol might have been involved in MC drowning (or at least blames himself for that) but viewed MC losing their memories as a 'second chance' with them, since they can start from anew (perhaps he made some mistakes with MC in the past which all eventually built up to MC drowning (it could be that we were already teens at that point)

-sol states afterwards: "But people refused them to let them be together, as if fate refuses them to die together" which supports my theory that MC was taken from Sol by someone (most likely the father after he witnessed Sols behaviour and his final straw was MC drowning because of him) the 'let them die together' could mean something like their relationship 'dying' and then starting over again or perhaps he tried to die with them, who knows (all this is really far fetched i am grasping at straws here lmao)

-in a really quick scene right after he mutters "I'm won't let it happen to me... not again" (some people view this as Sol already lost someone he loved dearly but it could also be the MC who was taken from him

ANOTHER THING I COULD IMAGINE -ABOUT DYING TOGETHER COULD BE:

MC almost died, Sol went after them but they were already saved, Sol just didnt witness that and almost died himself/wanted to die but was saved from that by someone (maybe hyugo? Though, he is an exchange student)

-Another theory on hyugo. It's canon that he is an exchange student, however i do believe he is from this city (since he knows about the hierarchy and his brother Geo apparently is no exchange student), moved away and is now back for business (relating to his 'mafia schemes' but under the disguise of being an exchange student)

Maybe he moved around the same time MC left or some time after that

-Hyugo mentions on the rooftop that we remind him of someone and the pronoun of the person he refers to changes based on the one the player picked for the MC in the beginning. It could mean we remind him of someone else entirely, someone maybe not even related to sol (though i doubt that) or to the MC and he knows them from back then but maybe thought MC died as well and cant believe they actually survived (maybe he want to spike MCs memory by doing that)

-A dream within a dream: MC mentions that this poem, at least to them, talks about the uncertainty about something, like life (which could also imply that they might be uncertain about some things in their mife because they simply forgot them due to amnesia)

-THE SECOND DAY 'THE KINGDOM'

+some people think the kingdom (by the sea) refers to MCs farm and implies its near the sea, however in day 2 we find out about the hierarchy in the city and considering my theory that MC actually is from the city and almost drowned there, i believe the kingdom by the sea is the city. MC does mention in the beginning that they lived on the farm ever since they were a child, however, it could very well be that we moved there right after the incident that caused MCs amnesia (if MC was akid when it happened it would really matter because then it would still fit with the fact that they lived there since theyre a child, however if they were already a teen, perhaps the father moved there immediately to cut off all ties to Sol and told us we have always lived there on top of that (considering the previous theories)

The father also didnt seem fond of the idea that we go to the city (the fact that he is is indebted to someone from high class could imply he might be from there), that could be because he knows how dangerous the city is (and how we could potentially meet sol again)

-maybe the reason for the debt is that MCs father suddenly bought the farm land to get us away from the city as soon as possible and had to take on a loan from one of his contacts in the city

-we know that this is MCs last year at the university, if we say shes minimum 22, and was already in the school for 4 years that would mean she got there at 18. If the 'drowning theory' events took place when MC was a teen (like 16 maybe) it would explain why the father was indebted (i also think 2 years is an believable timeframe a higher class person would give someone to pay off their debt)

-at the end of day 2 sol says he's sorry for leaving us and "i dont know what I'll do if..." which supports my theory that he lost us once (and he blames himself as the reason (again, MC drowning?))

-inspirations:

+ https://www.tumblr.com/sweet-herbal-peach-tea/746168072919023616/tkatb-theories?source=share

+ https://itch.io/t/3749638/whats-the-secret-between-hyugo-and-sol

Another theory:

Sleepy Hollow and The kid at the back

-In the nicknames the boys have for MC (fantasia released that on twitter and tumblr) sol calls MC pumpkin (like the pumpkin of the headless horseman (also in the gallery there is a pumpkin above the book)) and Crowe calls them '(star-crossed) lover'

Star-crossed lovers are people who love each other but can't be together

I believe this might imply that, even though Crowe is the second romance option, MC can't be with him no matter what they do

I also found out that the nickname is a phrase from romeo and juliet (which furthermore implies crowe will die)

We know what romeo and juliet is about: romeo and juliet cant be together because their families are enemies (some people believe Crowes father might be them man MCs father owes money to(i personally doubt thah though but it would support this romeo and juliet situation)) and at the end romeo thinks that juliet died, kills himself and then juliet turns out to not be dead but kills herself after seeing romeo dead

-Jericho Ichabod is a character from Sleepy Hollow, along Katrina (the FMC who owns a farm (what a coincidence)) and Brom Bones (its implied he is the headless horseman). In the story, jericho courts Katrina at a party, she rejects him and on his way home the headless horseman kills him (in the scene where Sol accompanies MC to class he says 'it's always been you ichabod' which could furthermore imply that crowe or his family have something do to with the fact that Sol and MC arent together)

In the library scene with Crowe he asks MC about their opinion on marie Antoinette and when MC says something negative about her, his reaction seems kind of strange. MC also brought a book about torture devices and execution methods and in that book is a picture of 'The Executioner' and he has scars on his arms, wears a mask and a chained collar. This correlates with some of sols features. He has scars on his arms (as seen in one of fantasias drawings), wears a chocker (he also wears a mask when he breaks into MCs room but that's really something anyone who does that would do). This implies even more that he will kill crowe.

[neil-gaiman]

hi dad,

ok i know ur not -really- my dad lmao just let me cope. i lost mine, so you're stuck with that title now. anyway. i just felt like telling you how great things seem to be going for me rn (fuck i hope i don't curse it). i've been a fan for a long ass time, but i got into the GO fandom only last year, and in just a few months i feel like i've gotten so much better, both mental health wise and creatively. i'm a neat little bundle of depression, anxiety, autiADHD, BPD, and cPTSD. isn't that lovely haha. but hey, i'm also a writer. a poet. an artist. and a helluva burned out musician. BUT. ever since i've been hanging out here, i've been writing SO much more, i've been doing fanfics, and so many cool poems, and improving my writing skills so much. i started drawing again after like 2 years of not touching a goddamn pencil, and i just bought some paint and a canvas bc i wanna get back into painting again like i used to when i was younger. and also through reading other GO fics, i've felt inspired to play piano again, which was a great deal to me a few years back. and it's awesome to feel that spark again.

Good Omens has meant a lot to me since i first read it around 2015. but now more than ever because there's a whole community i can share stuff about it with and it feels great. i recently lost a close group of friends, one of my best friends to suicide, and well. my irl dad. and i've been feeling hella lonely for a long time. but i feel like i've been gaining that sense of community again through good omens. and i can't tell you enough how much it means to me. so, idk. i guess i wanted to say thanks for that. and also for being so supportive of trans/queer people. it means the world to me. so. thanks dad. ily

I'm just glad I'm helping.

[ataraxiaspainting]

Do you have any blog recs? :>

i've been waiting my whole life for this moment!!! 👀

please respect their rules if you plan to interact with them!

*~*~*~*

@ddarker-dreams (yan multifandom) - her writings have given me more happiness than literal puppies. yan chrollo is such a magnificent bastard and bf blade is just my everything. she's so lovely and smart too!

@teabutmakeitazure (yan multifandom) - my platonic wife. her brainrots are everything to me, and she made me like a certain ginger twink (a federal crime) again after not simping after him since like... 2021.

@brynn-lear (yan multifandom) - their drawings/writings are so good!! i will die for the update of their whodrankit game. definitely worth it!

@the-saltiest-saltine (yan multifandom) - i love their matrimony series :0 (only accessible on ao3). they haven't been online as of late, but i still recommend their god tier writing!

@after-witch (yan multifandom) - her writings are actually not fanfic, but actual horrifying stories. i feel so bad for the reader at the end of each and every one of her works. they'll all make you feel emotions you didn't know you could feel because of creepy fictional men.

@stickyspeckledlight (yan multifandom) - her vocabulary is actually insane, and i feel like every time i read a fic of hers i learn something new (either about the series, about the character, or just general facts about the english language lol). her yan aventurine needs a kick in the balls and a hug at the same time.

@dear-yandere (yan multifandom) - another writer whose literary skills are out of this world! her yan harbinger headcanons are my fav :D

@harmonysanreads (yan genshin/hsr) - her alhaitham brainrots... 🩷 her fics make me want to either say "aw" for the fluff or "run" for the yan ones (in a good way of course <3). i love her and her massive wrinkly brain.

@shumidehiro (yan multifandom) - her yan pantalone is so charismatic and her yan capitano makes me feel kinda bad for the guy... :O

@uvobreakmylegs (yan multifandom) - one of the amazing faces of yan hxh. her stories are so wild and most times disturbing (in a good way). my inspiration for many fics i have done and will eventually complete.

@arias-diaryy (yan multifandom) - SO. MANY. IDEAS. aria is so funny and her writings just paint the phantom troupe is such a creepy cringefail way. reader definitely deserves better. not that i want them to have a better life lmao.

@veilofaponia (yan multifandom) - every time i read their works it feels like i'm reading a fancy poem. so good.

@envy-of-the-apple (yan multifandom) - reading their gojo series makes me have a whole enemies to lovers arc in my head because i am not the biggest gojo fan by any means. i went from "i hate gojo" to "i hate gojo" (buys merch of him and rereads the sun eats moon series). amazing stuff.

others - @haven-avalon, @pranabefall / @lychniis, @euniveve, @mochinon-yah, @jessamine-rose, @navxry, @dottiro / @leftdestiny-posts / @rightfate-posts, @meitham / @zhongrin / @meimeimeirin, @lucienbarkbark / @degeneratewhores, @floraldresvi, @wishluc, @chryseis-lxve, @throwaway-yandere, @suguwu

these people are all so awesome, but some of these blogs are no longer in use! please do not harass them in the hopes of getting them to write/draw again. it's just rude.

*~*~*~*

this list may be updated as time goes on! :D

[wufflesvetinari]

hi!! okay so i really loved that one fanfic you wrote (3:16) way back when, it's honestly one of my favorite fanfics ever but I have a question for you!! I've honestly adored your writing style and techniques and I was wondering: what is your writing process? Not just plot wise (although yes that!) but also prose-wise? because honestly, the first thing that drew me into your fic was how FUCKING good your prose was and I was just in absolute awe reading what you had written, and it sort of started me on a journey to improve my own prose and make it sound nice.

so uh yeah!! what is your writing process and if you have any advice for how you write so beautifully (Not just prose wise!! plot and character wise too haha) or just like. writing advice in general, i am ALL ears <3

oh this is so incredibly sweet, thank you!!!

i've tried to marshal some thoughts...tbh i am always envious of effective writing that is UNLIKE mine, so there are lots of ways to go about this. (and also i am just Some Guy.)

i'll focus on prose things i think about during writing/revision b/c otherwise we will be here all night...but imo some of this overlaps with effective pacing, character, etc.

Prose is character – some writing is “voicier” than other writing is, living closer in a character’s POV.  but in most cases, if you are in any way in a character’s head, your prose is part of their characterization. dick grayson will use different words and notice different details than damian will. being intentional about a character’s voice has the nice iterative effect of strengthening their characterization, which then makes your prose more confident as you understand their voice, and on and on it goes

Allow “workmanlike” phrases – sometimes cliché exists for a reason; you don’t actually need every sentence to be a poem. in fact, you NEED simple writing to string together your powerhouse lines without turning it all into purple prose/losing the reader/ruining the pacing.

Examine “workmanlike” phrases – that being said, another failure mode is RELYING on these phrases instead of digging for something more interesting now and then. i might write the phrase “a chill went down her spine” – ok this is fine, but I’ve read this sentence 15,000 times in my life and seeing it in my own document should be a trigger to slow down and decide if there’s a more specific or vivid description that conveys character or mood or theme better. or is just prettier lmao. i think to myself: how does it feel to be scared? what is a physical reaction that’s REAL that i have experienced, and am not just taking from a list in my head called “Descriptions Of Being Scared That Writers Use”?

The fucking thesaurus lmao – do not find/replace willy-nilly obviously BUT if the only word you can think of is Not Exactly The Right Word Dammit then the fucking thesaurus is a perfectly valid brainstorming tool to get closer to what you are trying to say. even if u don’t find the right word, it’s often a jumping-off point to a better way to approach the sentence

Note your “is”es – ok this is the annoying one. imo this really strengthened my writing but i hated it so so much. when revising, find any instance of “is/was/seems.” (ex: “He seems impatient, and there’s a pile of paperwork sitting in front of him.”) There’s nothing WRONG with that sentence, but it’s worth checking to see if it’s an opportunity for a more active one that gives more character detail (“He taps impatiently on a pile of paperwork.” there. done.)

Condense – ok look at that example again. i phrased things more actively but i ALSO condensed two concepts (He seems impatient + there is paperwork) into a sharper sentence that ALSO tells us a bit about how this character acts when stressed. imo you can accidentally find really interesting prose this way, in addition to improving pacing.

Vary sentence structure – that being said, sometimes the way to go is a beautiful run-on, so long as that sentence has intention packed into it! if you are writing long lovely flowing sentences, it’s going to hit hard if you drop the emotional reveal in a short, choppy, standalone one. or if your sentences shorten as the mood of the scene changes, or or or.

Use detail to let a scene breathe – personally, i never want to write the phrase “there was a pregnant pause” or “there was a brief silence” if i can help it. this is personal preference, but i think the principle stands: you can instead control your reader’s sense of timing, create an implied pause, by giving detail in the right place. the reverse is why it bothers me when a conversation is interspersed with paragraphs of introspection lmao: in my head i’m wondering why pov is taking so long to respond

Use repetition – oh my god this is my cheat code. if you are really proud of a beautiful, distinctive phrase you wrote? use it again!!! make it a callback at an important moment!!! make it thematic!! do it on purpose. trust me it’s cool

Get out of their head – ok here’s an experiment. take a concept (“Dick is scared”) and tell yourself that you have to express this, but you CAN’T describe anything about Dick himself in order to do it. you can use the way the crumbling buildings of gotham loom above him, or the weather, or the way people react to him—but you cannot say a word about his actions or thoughts or feelings. chances are, you’ve now created some interesting prose getting at the concept abstractly. cool! use that, and also go and add the direct feelings back in if it makes sense to do so

"Unconscious" writing - uhh ok this one is weird, but sometimes for a VERY early draft—like, when I am staring down the blank page—I will stop…trying to write a story? I will instead begin to write, uh…poetry about what is happening in the story? Just, impressions, details, stream-of-consciousness…this will all have to be cleaned up and made linear later. but for now, go nuts. and usually it gives me a) some workable, pretty prose and b) an entry point into what i am trying to say so i can go back and write the “real version”

Dissect!! Good!!! Writing!!! - i'm sorry, this one is so boring. but if there's a writer who really WORKS for you, read very slowly and break down what's so effective about it on a prose level. i do this with ursula le guin. also, do this with poetry!!! which poems slam you to the ground and take your lunch money? how?

i know you also asked abt plot and character but i've already written so much lmao plz forgive me. i am not a big craft book person but i did enjoy refuse to be done and a swim in a pond in the rain. i also try to collect tips i find in this tag!

[wehangout]

So, the amazing Calli @callivich came up with this beautiful idea for DVD commentary, fic style, and the amazing questions that go with it. As suggested, I'll be indulging myself while talking about:

Thicker Than Forget. Summary: He blinks at you. “What was your first name?” “Erato.” “Erato,” he repeats. “No need to roll the r.” “Like the muse?” You grin. “Poet, meet muse."

AU. Ian is a poet. Mickey is his recently-corporal muse. They eat an absurd amount of stupidly named ice cream, try to find beauty in things, and fall hopelessly in love.

This was fun! Let me know if you want commentary on any other fics!

Give us some stats - (when you wrote it, word count, how long it took to finish, is it a one-shot/multi-chapter, etc)

So, I wrote this for the Shameless Big Bang in 2021. I couldn’t tell you how long it took me to write (Word is giving me conflicting info), but it was probably my easiest write to date. Word count sits at 30-ish thousand words.

What was the initial inspiration for your story?

It was initially inspired by a novel. I don’t remember which one, but it was either Lament or Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater. The only similarity between that one and mine is that a character falls in love with their muse. The plot itself is very different.

If the story is written from a character’s POV, why did you choose this character?

Mickey. Because it’s almost always Mickey lmao. I did try from Ian’s, but this had to be from the muse’s POV and Mickey had to be the muse.

What was your favourite scene to write?

The smut 👀 if you’ve read it, I hope you understand why lmao

How did you come up with the title?

From the poem, Love is Thicker Than Forget! It fits so well with Ian being a poet and the overall theme of the story.

Are there any little moments or references you hope readers will notice?

I went a little meta on fanfic, fandom, and shipping in this, which was so fun. I think only one person seemed to really notice and mention it, though, haha.

Was there anything you struggled to write? If so, how did you overcome this?

I didn’t struggle to write it, but figuring out how to end it was tough. It took a long time for me to figure that out. When I originally came up with the idea it was for an original story, and did not have a happy ending.

Favourite line in the story?

I’m gonna go with lines, plural, because I have a couple

He kisses you and he kisses you and oh. Oh. This is what they were writing about. All the poets, every word of creativity they took from you … it’s this.

He closes his eyes and continues to sigh sonnets into your skin

Also, the last two lines of dialogue, and, I mean, “Fuck the connection” has to be right up there.

What are you most proud about in the story? (plot, characterisation, dialogue, twist/cliffhanger, etc)

The writing, actually. I’m not a poetic person, none of the poems in the fic are mine, but I’m pretty proud of the poetic nature of the writing.

Are there any ‘behind the scenes’ info you’d like to share - e.g. what’s going on in a characters head in a certain scene or how you came to write a certain line?

So, this is the fic that made me realise I needed to stop taking things so seriously lmao. @captainjowl can attest to the research I tend to do. In this case, every ice cream name was a legit flavour at the time, taken from a Baskin-Robbins website. The mural exists. The flowers and trees in the botanic gardens are flowers and trees found in that exact botanic garden. The hoodie! Taken straight from the Brooklyn Zoo website. The pasta they eat at the North Pond – I used Google Maps to make sure there was an Italian restaurant nearby and looked up ponds in Lincoln Park.

I've since tried to be more chill. Sometimes I fail.

Reading back the story now, is there anything you’d change or add?

I’d make it longer, if possible.

Would you ever write a sequel to this story?

It’s a nice idea, because I’d love to write something pretty again, but I have zero inspiration for it.

Are there any ‘easter eggs’ in your story - e.g. references to other stories you’ve written, a trope you often use etc?

Uh, if you’ve read this and Suncatcher you might notice that I, like Ian and Sandy, have a thing for The Doors.

If you’ve chosen your most popular story, are you surprised by the popularity?

I don’t know if this is my most popular story, but I was definitely surprised by the intensity of the comments I received. It was one time when I knew I’d written something good, but the way it made other people feel definitely took me by surprise.

Anything else you’d like the readers to know about the story?

I love that this was loved. I still go back and read it every now and then and just sigh.

[eiimeixi]

bokuaka headcanons but it's mostly me projecting onto them bc i love them with my whole heart and soul

bokuto doesn't speak for a short time when he wakes up (i'd like to say he goes nonverbal but i'm not too sure if i understand what it means enough to say it)

bokuaka watches stranger things together and [SPOILERS TO THOSE WHO HAVEN'T WATCHED STRANGER THINGS S4 OR ST AT ALL]

^^ bokuto BAWLED during eddie's death and akaashi wrote steddie fics to console bokuto <33 (FIC WRITER AKAASHI AND BOKUTO HIS BETA READER AND TARGET AUDIENCE, THE CROWD CHEERS!!!!!!!!!!)

bokuto also screamed during the steddie scenes and bokuaka are steddie shippers don't change my mind

akaashi's parents are divorced (woah that's a 180) but they still love him (or, in his perspective, claim to but really they just don't know how to show it properly which is also one of the reasons their marriage failed lmao) and they work 9 to 5's so akaashi's almost always alone at home

akaashi writes poems and fics about bokuto (bokuto x reader bc he's delusional) and bokuto doesn't know about it (has seen a few of the poems bc akaashi's stupid and leaves it displayed on his desk but doesn't know they're about him--not that he can read it anyway)

akaashi's normal handwriting is barely legible because it's rushed cursive. like you seriously have to take the time to understand the pattern in his writing (aaannndd i just remembered that in japan you have to have neat handwriting to read the letters properly. IMAGINE THIS WOULD BE HIS HANDWRITING IN ENGLISH ALPHABET)

akaashi also likes to do traditional calligraphy!!! (now when i first made this headcanon i didn't realize calligraphy in "english" and calligraphy in japan were ENTIRELY different BUT PLEASE let me have this one or he could do both)

akaashi's favorite ink color is gold because it reminds him of bokuto's eyes but bokuto's favorite ink color are those dark teal green shades (seek reference: diamine's teal or aurora borealis or pilot ink's syo-ro) that remind him of akaashi's eyes (coincidentally those are also my favorite)

AKAASHI LISTENS TO CIGARETTES AFTER SEX (CAS) AND LOVES EVERY SONG BUT SPECIFICALLY "Heavenly" IS HIS FAVORITE FAVORITE BECAUSE IT'S THE FIRST SONG HE LISTENED TO (did you guys know i actually got this from a wattpad fanfic i read a few years back and they linked a youtube playlist [which i forgot to save🙁 but it was my first exposure of cas and look at me now i'm obsessed] that was supposed to be akaashi's playlist)

akaashi's list of top 3 favorite cas songs: 1. Heavenly 1.5. the entirety of I., Apocalypse, & Don't Let Me Go 2. Affection, Keep on Loving You, Tejano Blue, & Sweet, Opera House 3. Neon Moon, Stop Waiting, Pistol, Hot, Falling in Love, & You're the Only Good Thing In My Life [disclaimer: this is not my personal list of favorite cas songs as i love them all so much i can't choose]

akaashi secretly likes bl and will take that secret to his grave.

akaashi likes the rain but doesn't like to get wet, he only likes the ambiance and the way the rain sounds. but bokuto loves the rain wholeheartedly (inspired by the official arts where akaashi has to try to get bokuto dry from the rain)

speaking of ^, bokuto doesn't get sick because "if people call me an idiot and idiots can't get sick, then i can't get sick!" (one of his sisters told him that)

i could probably go on but this is getting so long my laptop's tweaking

[treeba-rk]

So has someone else already told you about martyn reading fanfics in stream today (written and proposed by people in chat)? one was watchers related which he literally told the writer in chat to tell him when they updated it lmao, and the other was a short poem about the red army. Not really shippy stuff, but i still had 3 heart attacks when i saw him just open ao3 in stream hahaha

WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE OPENED AO3 ON STREAM

[coff-in]

Coff-in?? Waiting for my response??? HHrrrk I'm blushing so hard rn holy shit Devious Anon is in love <3 Interestingly I think Reader killing Ashley is a possibility, but it's done under very specific conditions—like she has to be sure Andrew wants to kill Ashley before she takes on the job, ergo basically in the vision what I think would happen is Andrew is approaching Ashley with the knife and is visibly debating killing her and then reader kill-steals, kind of. Andrew asks reader why the fuck she would do that and reader replies almost innocuously, "She was causing you a lot of pain, and you would've cried if you killed Ashley, right? So I'll do it for you." She killed Ashley to keep Andrew for herself, yes, but also to spare Andrew the guilt of killing Ashley. I feel like it's harder for him to resent her under these conditions bc yk, he was about to do the exact same thing and she did it for him. NOW IF ASHLEY RETALIATES AND KILLS HER bro I don't think these siblings are ever going to come back together the same again bc now Ashley suspects Andrew and reader of being against her, Andrew has a looooot of mixed feelings (does he wanna kill Ash???) and reader is basically always a hair-trigger away from flipping out (she didn't think she wanted to kill Ash but now that it's in her head...)

Also also I realized I built up Devious Baby Sis reader a lot in my head but did not actually share most of it (she's basically a whole character now just without a name) so here it be! The reason why baby sis is the way she is comes from her observation of the family dynamic as the youngest—that is, she and Ash both rely on Andrew. Ashley is very openly needy about it, which reader notices tends to get on Andrew's nerves. They both baby her, but reader sometimes gets left out when her older siblings become too tangled with each others issues (ex. Nina's death is something i'm not sure reader would've been involved in). Reader is internally actually pretty insecure like Ashley, but instead of acting out (which she know annoys Andrew), she switches tactics so they act out for her—in jealousy. Basically reader is insecure and constantly tests their feelings because otherwise, she can't convince herself that she's loved.

CRYING AT THIS FEAST SO EARLY IN THE MORNING HRRRRGG It's not fair that Andrew's so fine it's actually illegal. He's in my head rent free (you can tell by the amount of asks I've thrown your way coff-in I need hELP) I feel like this is less an ask and me just building fanfic with you in your asks now :,D I just have so many brainworms lmao bUT IF YOU WANNA WRITE A WHOLE ASS ANGST FIC I ASSURE YOU I AM YOUR GAL << I WILL READ, I WILL DEVOUR

notes from coff-in: I WAS WAITING ALL EVENING FOR YOU BABES!!! AAAAHHHH ITS DEVIOUS ANON!!!! and don't worry about talking in my inbox, a fact you should all know is that i love to yap and talk (you also have a tag now! #devious anon visits the coffin)

[fem] reader-insert, [devious younger sister reader], incest

i don't know if i could elaborate more on the decay route because it's just too good man! the paths we've explored so far are all so fucking exciting! i am curious about how ashley would traverse her relationship with andrew and devious baby sis [reader] since ashley would be the only one seeing the vision.

i've also been building up this little devious [reader] in my head but it's all self-indulgent stuff. hearing you talk about why she is the way she is is pretty neat though! i have trouble keeping all to deep analysis stuff in my head and it causes me to lose track of character traits and motives and such :p i mostly saw [reader] is just being this little yandere manipulator, you know? she's genuinely happy with her siblings but she uses all these tricks and tactics to indulge in her incestuous feelings with her siblings while also not getting into trouble. she writes romantic poems for andrew but it's forged in julia's handwriting so he doesn't suspect it's [reader]. she gets naked while sharing a room with ashley and plays it off as okay since they're both sisters and siblings and only one year apart in age.

ah... imagine that she's in love with both of her siblings but thinks that andrew and ashley don't love her back or yet ARE IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHER. the conflict she feels about her romantic feelings to her siblings and her need to keep a secret to keep them with her. she fakes being an angel because she doesn't think that they'd love her back if they knew how apathetic she could be towards other people. even if she wasn't there when nina died (something she construes as something personal between andrew and ashley that she could never fit into), [reader] probably wouldn't have helped her out of that box. it made ashley happy, right? and andrew wouldn't have to get a girlfriend, right? all wins in her book.

she'd kill and maim and butcher and burn and lie and die for her siblings if she needed to (well, she probably wouldn't die without them ofc). they are her beginning and her end! her soulmates reincarnated as her siblings so that they'd be together forever (from the womb to the tomb, as i've seen said in passing). a lot of her personality revolves around andrew and ashley and while i want to work on that a little bit more in my silly little head, i think it could also be used as some sort of purposefully character flaw?

speaking of long fanfics, i have an ao3 account (that is empty for now) but maybe one day your devious idea could become a devious multi-chapter fanfic (with your permission of course. i want to make sure everyone gets their fair share of credit).

also, also, ALSO! imagine andrew and ashley celebrating [reader]'s birthday! :3 happy thought to make up for all the angst

----

coff-in

[cardiamachina]

my god is this thing even on???

hello, you, who's still hanging around in this almost defunct page! sometimes i come around here after sighting a poem of mine out in the wild of twitter or facebook to see how my little poetry children are doing and i realize i never really expounded on where i went, which is my bad, lmao

well, to start, i am now a nurse in the intensive care unit! i looked back into my archives and realized that when i started writing poetry in this account, i was a NURSING STUDENT eleven years ago! life had expectedly lifed very hard, nursing as a baby nurse was hard, i took the icu course, and then we had that cursed thing happen 2020 ish. my brain chemistry changed a lot, and honestly so did the things i've been writing.

during the time i was away from this account, i was quite focused on long form fanfics. i wrote poetry here and there, but as you guys know with me, i write for people i love. i wrote space-related poetry for deancas, and wrote seventy years of sleep for stevebucky. which still blows my mind what kind of journey soft epilogue ended up embarking???? i leave and then i come back to all that - it was unreal, and thanks for that!

if you're wondering where i am nowadays, i'm kind of all over. i'm on twitter (@NikkaUrsula) and IG (@nikkaursula) for poetry stuff and my fandom twitter i'm gonna hide because i will simply embarrass myself lmao! yes, i am still writing poetry, and it's again about characters i love and people that make me feel things, so i guess i'm no different that where you found me eleven years ago.

i'll be in and out of this page cleaning some stuff up, and maybe updating the format so it's easier for you to read things when you find yourself wandering around my poetry tag. i may post some of my new stuff here too, if anyone's interested in all that.

before i go, i just want to say thanks for listening to what i have to say not only today, but yesterday, a month, a year, a decade ago. i have been writing for a long time, these little feelings that cocoon themselves into little words that escape me. they've traveled a long way to perch on your shoulder, my little monarch butterflies. now they're yours, too.

see you around,

nhixxie/nikka ursula

[tiredemzz]

NICKY HARPER HCS <3

This is just my silly, personal headcannons on Nicky aka the cooking nerd- I been watching this show too much and this boy deserves some love./srs

disclaimer: I am not writing for the actor b/c he’s a real person and don’t feel comfortable writing fanfics about him, I only feel comfortable writing for his characters aka five and nicky. so please, don’t ask me to write fanfics/x readers for aidan- I’m gonna have to say no, sorry chat. :/

anyway, enjoy these headcannons and gif doesn’t belong to me ^v^

❥ nicky is a germaphobe, what else do I gotta say? (heard he was a germaphobe in season 1, somebody correct me-)

❥ he definitely reads the tua comics, which is why I’m calling him a comic book nerd b/c my boi is obsessed with comics !! ^v^

❥ he’s definitely a mama’s boy -v-

❥ he definitely can’t stand his brothers and sister sometimes but he still loves them <3

❥ Anne definitely taught him how to cook and bake, like I said- he’s a mama’s boy fr

❥ the boy keeps a journal, he uses the journal to write lyrics/poems in there- sometimes his personal thoughts to himself about his brothers and sister + his food recipes :)

❥ he definitely enjoys his mama singing him a a lullaby, helps him fall asleep <3

❥ nicky likes to wear green pants lmao (this HC belongs to @pancakeswithbutterandsyrup lmao, ty.)

❥ this boy loves halloween over christmas/j

❥ he definitely wears glasses, he’s a nerd ofc :)

❥ he likes to quote vines once in a while, makes him smile <3

❥ isn’t really good at math, asks Ricky for help and Ricky would gladly help Nicky with his math stuff ^v^

❥ has a bit of a fear of being left out, doesn’t really like to be alone but doesn’t mind it-

❥ HAS A FEAR OF CHICKENS. srs, he would.

❥ owns a gameboy color to play pokemon, sometimes mario :)

❥ definitely is an a/b+ type student, he a good student :>

❥ wears baggy clothes, makes him feel comfortable ^v^

❥ he is an awkward/shy boy and would get along with ya- depending if you like him or not :(

❥ he would ether drink apple juice or pink lemonade, depending on which one he’s craving the most-

❥ his voice cracks a lot sometimes, somebody help him with his voice lel

❥ basically can charm any girl with his food, he’s a chef yall- he cooks better then me lmao

❥ he listens to acoustic covers of his favorite songs, judge me lel

•

•

•

that’s all of the headcannons I got for yall- if anybody wants boyfriend hcs of nicky, let me know :)

have a great rest of your night/day/afternoon/morning!

stay safe and take care :)

- author anon



[deepdeanvsweston]

Detective gang and their tumblr blogs

Daisy's blog: dykes4detecting

- has one blog for absolutely everything she posts, and it's all a pretty pink colour

- does also have a rarely used sideblog for fashion

- occasionally makes alarming but nonchalant posts like 'someone threw me into the Nile yesterday lmao'

- but in the tags of the same post it'll be the most devastatingly tragic admittance of feelings you've ever seen like #it was so scary though... #im scared of showers now because of it and it makes me feel so stupid #like getting my feet wet gives me heart palpitations wtf???

- also makes posts like "you'd think people would put a little more effort to kill me considering the effort I put into stopping exactly that" and nobody can tell if she's shitposting or not

- reblogs a lot of historical lesbian content and the occasional Killing Eve gifset

- also reblogs poetry, especially sapphic obviously

- posts her own blackout poetry which is quite popular

Hazel's blog: woctordatson

- back when she was 12/13 Hazel had an entirely BBC Sherlock themed blog which was in fact actually popular and well known, in tumblr anyway

- did not change her blog name from this phase

- used to write Sherlock/Watson fanfic and post it

- (Daisy brings it up every so often and when she does Hazel tells her she wished she'd drowned (jokingly ofc))

- now has several blogs for different things because she likes having everything organised

- one of the blogs is called a-stamp-a-day where she (you guessed it!) posts a stamp a day, and a little bit about it

- (I hc Hazel to collect them and have a focused interest in them)

- another blog is poetry themed, and she ofc reblogs all of Daisy's blackout poems

- reblogs a lot of those gif stimboards (visual stimmer fr fr)

- LOVES the haiku bot

George's blog: beetles-and-boatles

- posts a lot about the Mary Celeste which are half detailed research posts and the other half is just 'the mystery of the Mary Celeste lives in my head rent free'

- may also post about other unsolved mysteries too

- made one joke post about Daisy acting like he didn't know her and posting 'ok so in December the Guardian says this girl died after a cult member threw her overboard a boat in Egypt and yet the BBC had an article last week reporting how she was at her father's funeral??? I have Questions'

- however it blew up and now Daisy Wells is lowkey an unsolved mystery tumblr superstar. George finds this hilarious

- also posts pictures of his pet beetles and infodumps about them

- very very very occasionally makes an incredible vague post about his crush like 'he adjusted my school tie and I leant into his hand,,, having a crush is horrific'

Alex's blog: spaceistrans

- says he doesn't have a doctor who blog but so clearly has a doctor who blog

- has doctor who quote "In 900 years of time and space, I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important" as his header

- draws a lot of cute little pride icons, especially aromantic ones that are fairly popular

- also posts a lot about space like "there's an eclipse today!!!" and then he makes a post of the times in different countries you can see it

- reblogs all of George's unsolved mystery researched posts with super supportive tags like #this is so well researched!!!

- has a scheduled post each month that just says 'fuck you mom' (Daisy spam reblogs this every time it shows up on her dash)

- reblogs a lot of dw fanart and gif stimboards

[coffee4jordan]

Finds from fanfic research (The Little Mermaid 1989, Alice in Wonderland 1951, Alice in Wonderland 2010, Disney wiki):

-Ursula accidentally kills Flotsam and Jetsam in the movie so WOW

-Disney wiki refers to Ariel’s cave of treasures as a “grotto” so I’m thinking “Ashengrotto” is a play on Ariel’s stuff getting destroyed by her dad lol

-Jetsam and Flotsam’s powers come from their eyes so I headcanon that Floyd’s signature spell comes from his eye like Jade’s does, but I need to replay the part where his spell is explained

-Floyd gorging himself on strawberries for a shortcake the Mostro Lounge was making could be a reference to a children’s book where Flotsam and Jetsam decide to ruin a garden by eating all the flowers and get stomach aches

-Jade’s ability only working on vulnerable people may be a reference to the eels plotting to offer Ursula’s deal to Ariel at a time when she’s vulnerable, i.e. after her cave is destroyed by her dad

-Ursula eats shrimp so that’s how Floyd sees MC lol

-(not about TW) Eric doesn’t even consider that Arielle might’ve lost her voice even though she insists he met her and he thinks she’s familiar, prime himbo behavior

-Headcanon that Azul doesn’t like dogs because Max doesn’t like ‘Vanessa’ (Ursula) and she kicks him at the wedding

-(not about TW) In the movie they didn’t find a way to destroy the contracts, Eric just kills Ursula, damn

-(not about TW) Is Eric really not going to ask any questions?

-Riddle’s backstory with his mom could be a reference to Alice having an older sister that tries to tutor her and wants her to be proper. Obviously Alice isn’t the Queen of Hearts but everything in Wonderland comes from Alice’s imagination so it’s partially stuff from her own life

-(not about TW) Is the white rabbit a drug addict? Why are his eyes red?

-Alice says the “drink me” potion tastes like a cherry tart.

-The mad hatter tells ‘riddles’ (“why is the raven like a writing desk?” like shut UP, it’s not a riddle if you don’t know the answer)

-That one Deuce chat where he says Ace pranked him by saying his clock was two days slow is something the mad hatter said to the white rabbit

-It’s weird that Trey is Riddle’s vice housewarden because ‘Tre’ is one of the cards that loses his head (Ace, Deuce, Tre). I would think his name would be different and he’d represent the heart or spade cards which were more loyal.

-Riddle saying “speak up and don’t twiddle your thumbs” (or something) during lessons is a reference to the Queen of Hearts telling Alice this when they met

-Riddle’s horse is named Vorpal which is the name of the sword that Alice uses in the live action movie. It’s originally from a Lewis Carrol poem called “Jabberwocky”

-I just noticed Riddle and Floyd’s pet peeves basically describe each other lmao

Some stuff is redacted for reasons lol. No I did not watch the entirety of all of these movies, I just skimmed them, especially Alice in Wonderland 1951 because it disturbed me 😓